digital storytelling

Customer visits are still an essential part of doing business today, despite the amazing communication technologies available – and for good reason. These can give an unparalleled opportunity to interact with the customer first-hand, gauge reactions, get feedback, and refine value propositions.

Perhaps much of this could be done remotely or using a virtual reality experience instead of an actual in-person visit, but there is a special value that comes from these person-to-person interactions. They help to build a personal relationship between trading partners, and this creates a different kind of contract – one built on trust. The act of looking someone in the eye and shaking their hand (or bumping elbows, perhaps), gives us a sense of the ‘other business’ as another person, like us, with their own journey and situation. As a customer, the visit cannot be distilled down to a list of topics, questions, and answers. Instead, it becomes the ‘story of the visit’, marked with the kind of coffee or biscuits on offer, the jokes that were shared, and the lessons we learned along the way. A successful customer visit is one that leads them to return to the office saying, “Wow, let me tell you about my visit to Anonycorp Inc. yesterday!”.

So how can we ensure that customer visits have the greatest impact, without resorting to cheap tricks or excessive restaurant bills?

Immersive experiences for amazing customer visits

Perhaps the most powerful tool available today for business is the immersive experience (or IX). This can be in the form of an immersive experience room or a large-scale interactive video wall. As a tool, they are essentially a huge screen that fills your visual field, but when they are used to deploy digital stories they gain a new dimension of value.

Immersive experiences in combination with digital storytelling can take your customer on a journey, with them at the center of the experience. These experiences are incredibly powerful ways to totally engage participants, and they can use interactive elements that draw them deeper – even shaping their own story.  The effect of this is an emotional one, especially when the digital storytelling is thoughtfully crafted. You have the ability to connect with your customers on a personal level, using digital stories that are personalized so that they can relate to them – perhaps reflecting struggles or challenges within their own company, industry, or sector, and showing exactly how your solutions overcome them. Better yet, you can show the emotional impact it has when these are solved – and everyone likes a happy ending.

Being impressive on the move

When the customer comes to you it is easier to impress them with an in-house immersive experience. However, when you are on the road or attending trade shows, for example, it is harder to have this same impact.

Don’t worry  – there’s an amazing solution for exactly this situation! There are now immersive storytelling concepts that can be taken on the road (literally, in the case of an IX Truck), and set up in just a few hours. Purple’s PopIX solution is always the buzz at any trade show or expo, and it can have the same power as a permanent immersive experience. The IX Truck is better suited to a ‘road-trip’ style customer offensive – going out to where the customer is and drawing them in with an incredibly immersive experience. This too can be set up within hours and will have your customers dazzled by your immersive brand story before lunch.

Whatever solution you choose, your customers will be treated to an unforgettable immersive experience that will grab their attention, hold their engagement, and win their hearts. And they’ll definitely be talking about it for weeks afterward, so is like any online casino platform that shares all the wins of the player to improve user experience toward their platform.